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Authors: Alexandrea Weis

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He nodded, staring at her perfect mouth. “I remember.” He took a step closer to the door. “I wanted to tell you
that I read your book.”

“Is that why you showed up at my book signing?”

He leaned against the doorframe. “No, I went to see what it was you did.”

“When did you read my book?”

“This afternoon.”

The expression on her face changed from lighthearted fun to dark worry. She pulled at the collar on her compl
imentary fluffy robe. “And what did you think?”

He went around her and
determinedly entered her suite. “We need to talk.”

She gawked at him
, her eyes round with astonishment. “Ty, you can’t just come in here without asking.”

He
examined the modest suite with a small sitting room done in pale tones of amber and gold, then turned to the adjoining bedroom and modest bath. Motioning to a half-packed black suitcase on her bed, he asked, “Are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.
” She shut her room door. “I’m heading to another convention in South Carolina.”

He waved his hand about the suite while turning back to her. “Not as nice as mine.”

“Well, I’m not a rich oil executive.”

He lifted the right corner of his mouth in a half-smile. “No, you’re a rich and famous author.”

“Well-off and not famous…not yet anyway.” She walked past him to her bedroom.

“Ah, there’s a side of Monique Delome I don’t know. Since when have you craved fame and fortune?”

She unwrapped the thick white towel from about her head, letting her wet blonde locks fall to her shoulders. “I’m not into fame or fortune, but I am into being successful enough not to have to worry about how I am going to eat tomorrow.”

He
moved toward her king-sized bed. “What, being married to a wealthy doctor didn’t get you a hefty divorce settlement?”

Flinging
the wet towel on the bed, she demanded, “How did you know Mat was a doctor?”

He removed her suitcase from the bed and placed it on the floor, then had a seat. “Your pit bull of a manager told me about him. Apparently, he’s not too fond of the guy.
He said he was an asshole to you.”

She shrugged and
combed her fingers through her wet hair. “That’s one way of putting it.” She observed him sitting on her bed. “What are you doing here, Ty? I would have thought you had enough of me earlier today.”

He
tossed the book onto the bed next to her wet towel. “You want to explain what I am doing in all of your books?”

She ran her
fingers over her forehead, looking a bit uncomfortable, and then her features hardened. “That’s one book, Ty. You can’t generalize what you read in one—”

“I read four other ones, Moe
.”

She stood before him
, saying nothing as her eyes flitted about the small suite.

“I think that’s the longest lapse of
speaking I’ve ever heard from you,” he commented, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Her
furious eyes fixed on him. “I’m thinking!”

He stood from the bed. “Thinking is not explaining, Moe.
Why did you write about me? Every man you wrote about had my mannerisms, my expressions; hell, they even had my eyes.”

“So what if I did write about you, Ty? You’re a hell of an interesting character where women are concerned. I’ve never known a man who could wrap a woman around his finger like you. You always got everything you wanted from every woman you ever met.”

“I didn’t get what I wanted from you.”

“Great, you’re still not going to let that go
.” She made a beeline for the bathroom.

He followed her.
“Hey, I didn’t think I was asking too much.”

She
halted at the bathroom door and when she turned around, he was right in front of her. Monique pulled her robe over her chest. “I was twenty and a virgin, Ty. I wasn’t just going to hop into bed with a twenty-nine-year-old lothario who wouldn’t have remembered my name in the morning.”

“I didn’t ask you to sleep with me until after we had been together for six months, Moe. I think I was pretty damn patient.”

“I think you were an ass. Packing me up in your stepfather’s corporate jet and carting me off to Mexico, thinking you were finally gonna get lucky with me if you showed me a good time.”

“That wasn’t what I was doing and you know it. You said you always wanted to see Acapulco and I wanted to surprise you.
It wasn’t until you found out that we were sharing a hotel room that you accused me of trying to seduce you. Christ, Moe!” He threw his hand in the air. “So what if I was trying to seduce you? Didn’t you know how much I wanted to be with you?”

“How was I supposed to know that? I’m surprised you could fit me into your schedule,
since you were screwing half the female population of Dallas.”

“It was only that one girl, just one, and even then I was too drunk
….” He took a step back from her. “I am not going to do this again with you. I did not come here to rehash the past. I came….” He pointed to the book on her bed. “You’re a very good writer. Good luck with that.”

He was
marching toward the door when she came running up behind him. “I never intended to write about you. It just happened.”

Tyler
pulled up in the sitting room and slowly pivoted around to her.

“When I went home to New Orleans, I hoped, maybe, that you would come to me, but you never did.
I wrote about you as a kind of therapy, a way to get over you. Then, I married Mat. When my marriage fell apart, I escaped into my imagination, and there you were.”

Tyler took in her small, oval face, wary gray eyes
, and the pink blush on her cheeks, and knew he had made a mistake in coming to see her.

“Why couldn’t you just have said that
, Moe?”

“And given you the satisfaction of knowing there was another woman in the world pining away for you? Not a chance.”

“Pining?” He chuckled at the thought. “I could never picture you pining away for any man, even me.”

She walked back to her bed. “It was never the same after I left Dallas.” She plopped down on the bed
. “I was never the same.”

“Then why didn’t you come back to me?”

“Why didn’t you follow me to New Orleans?” she angrily shot back.

“I thought about it. I really did.” He
stuffed his hands in the pockets of his gray slacks. “But then my stepfather gave me the job with the company and I tried to concentrate all of my energy on that. Not long after, I met my first wife, and put everything behind me.” He sat down next to her on the bed. “Or so I thought.” 

“You could have at least called, Ty. Those first few months after I left
, I thought…hoped…you would try to contact me.”

“And said what, Moe? Come back to me?” 

A knock on the door made Monique jump from the bed. “That’s my dinner.”

As she
rushed to the door, the sway of her slim hips beneath the thick fabric of her robe enticed him. He waited on the bed while she took the tray of food from the waiter and carried it to the bedroom. Monique carefully slid the tray onto a modest wooden desk in the corner of the room. When she turned back to Tyler, he was still watching her from the bed.

She
yanked the belt tighter on her robe. “I…ah, really should finish packing.”

Tyler rose from the bed, suddenly invigorated. He went to the desk and
removed the silver lid from the plate of food.

“What is that?”
He grimaced with disapproval.

“Grilled salmon. Why? What’s wrong with it?”

He replaced the lid. “You don’t want that.”

“I don’t?”

“You’re in the mood for a greasy hamburger and french fries.”

“No, I’m not
,” she argued.


Then how about pizza, with extra cheese?”

“That’s not fair.
” She pouted her lips together. “You know I can’t turn down pizza.”

“It just so happens that one of the best pizza places I know is not far from here.” His eyes hopefully
explored her face. “What do you say to dinner with me?”

She
tilted her head to the side, as if she were weighing her options “Fine. But I am only going because I want pizza more than that salmon.” She spun away from him. “Just don’t read anything more into this, all right?”  

His deep, hearty laughter filled the bedroom. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Ty. I’m having pizza with you as a friend. Don’t think this is going to go any further.” She disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.

Tyler did not want to admit it, but he knew exactly what she meant. He went to the hotel phone by her bed and hit the number for the front desk.

“Thanks you for choosing the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. This is the front desk, how may I help you?”

“Ah, this is Mr. Moore in 1201. I’ll need a car in twenty minutes for the evening.”

“Of course, Mr. Moore. Will you be needing the car for the entire evening?”

He recognized Missy’s sweet voice. “Yes, Missy
, I’ll need the car for the entire evening.”

“Very good, Mr. Moore. I will make the arrangements for you.”

After hanging up the phone, Tyler reasoned that he was getting too old for young women like Missy. Maybe Monique was the kind of woman he needed in his life. No one had held up a mirror to his empty existence quite like she had. The characters she had based on him had opened his eyes to the possibility that all was not right with his world. He had made mistakes, a lot of them, but perhaps there was always room for redemption. As he listened to the blow-dryer whirring in the bathroom, he resolved to turn over a new leaf. He was going to start again with Monique, only this time he was determined not to let her slip away. He hoped that she would be just as willing to embrace a second chance with him.

Chapter 5

 

Twenty minutes later, Tyler was sitting on he
r comfortable gold sofa when Monique exited the bathroom wearing jeans and a casual top.

“I hope this is okay for pizza
.” She clutched her small black purse against her chest.

Tyler
stood up. “You look fine.”

While
adjusting his jacket, his eyes wandered over her tiny figure. He had forgotten how much she reminded him of a little girl. There were moments when she seemed so vulnerable, and other times when she was a mountain of strength. 

He opened the door to her suite and held it as she stepped into the hall.

“Can I ask you a question, Ty?”

He shut her hotel room door. “Is this something I’m not going to want to answer?”

“Perhaps.”

Tyler
wondered where this was going. “What is it?” he grilled in a dubious tone.

“Why
are you doing this?”


Doing what? Taking you to dinner?” He smirked at her. “I’m saving you from that salmon.”


I’m being serious. In twenty-one years I haven’t heard a single word from you. But today you show up at my book signing, knock on my hotel room door, and now you want to take me to dinner. Why?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Christ, you always used to do that.”

“Do what?”


Interrogate me, just like you are doing now; why I took so long to kiss you on our first date; why I never introduced you to any of my friends. It’s all starting to come back to me.”

She d
ropped her gaze to the gold and burgundy carpet. “You’ve got a good memory.”

Taking
her elbow, he guided her down the hallway. “You’re probably the only woman I know who would say such a thing. I’ve been accused by both my former wives of never listening to them.”

“You always did have an immense talent for shutting people out.”

“Yeah, well….” He tipped his head casually to the side. “My first wife, Serena, said I was a walking tree…dumb and blind to the people around me.”

“Ouch.” Monique giggled as they made their way to the central elevators. “What was she like, Serena?”

“She was pretty; rather empty-headed, but sweet.” They stepped before the fancy gold-trimmed elevator door. “I remember every now and then, when she turned her head a certain way….” His eyes returned to Monique. “She reminded me of you.” He pressed the call button. “I met her about six months after you left. At the time, I was trying hard as hell to stay sober and working as a manger at Propel. A year later, we were married. Six months after the wedding I got…bored. A year after that, Serena filed for divorce.”

“Did you cheat on her?”

He shrugged his wide shoulders as the elevator doors opened.

BOOK: Cover to Covers
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